I don't think their recent performance has anything to do with a sense of entitlement due to prematurely becoming starters and therefore operating under delusions of grandeur. I think it has more to do with discouragement over so much losing, so they lose confidence in what they have been doing individually and what they have been taught to do as a team, and so they are desperate to turn this into something positive. Which means for many of these guys, who have been used to being the go-to player at different levels throughout their lives, trying to take over the game themselves.
No player of a sport at a competitive level (NBA, college, high school, even rec league) easily accepts a losing role. It doesn't sit well, and most players will try to compensate, to change things up, to get back on a winning track. If the coaching staff isn't giving them the guidance, training, coaching, and support to at least trust and buy into what they are trying to accomplish as a team, the team philosophy if you will, even if it isn't immediately being successful, then they will start to unravel. This is potentially what we are witnessing.
And random benchings for perceived crappy play to "teach them a lesson" actually does no such thing. Unless it is in a very specific framework of clear expectations then that type of benching is only more damaging to the player's confidence and detrimental to their development. The players will benefit more from consistent levels of playing time, or rather consistent parameters on which playing time is predicated, coupled with clear expectations and goals, a reward system for exhibiting the correct or desired behaviors, and rotation, substitution, and matchup decisions based on the overall team philosophy. This gives the players something firm to hold onto, a reason to keep working the system, and the unity necessary to get the most out of every individual player as well as the team.
By the way, best coach in the league for this? Popovich. This is exactly the way he coaches, and it shows. Even when they go through rough stretches he gets the same effort, the same loyalty, from his players, and in the end the success follows, both for the team and in the individual accomplishments and development of the players.
